Most Bible stories feature shepherds, farmers and prophets. But a few of them feature giants. The most striking of these is King Og of Bashan, a ruler so large that the Bible pauses to describe his bed. He appears only briefly, yet he left a deep mark on Jewish memory. Later writers turned him into a survivor of the Flood, a friend of Abraham and a foe of Moses.
In this article we follow Og from the pages of Numbers and Deuteronomy into the legends of the rabbis. We also look at the giant lore of the Dead Sea Scrolls and at the old Canaanite tablets that name his cities. Along the way, we will see why one short biblical figure grew so large in the imagination of later readers.
Who Was King Og of Bashan?
Bashan was a rich plateau east of the Sea of Galilee. Today we know it as the Golan Heights and the lands just south of it. In ancient times it was famous for its oaks, its cattle and its strong cities. The prophets later used the “bulls of Bashan” as a picture of power and pride.
According to the Bible, King Og of Bashan ruled this land when Israel came out of the desert. He held sixty walled cities, with high gates and bars. His royal seats were Ashtaroth and Edrei. You can read a short summary of the region in the Wikipedia article on Bashan.
Og was an Amorite king, like his neighbour Sihon of Heshbon. The two appear together again and again in scripture. However, Og has one feature that Sihon lacks. The Bible calls him the last of an ancient race of giants.
The Battle of Edrei
The story of the war comes in Numbers 21. Israel had just defeated Sihon and taken his land. Then the people turned north toward Bashan. Og came out with all his army to meet them at Edrei.
At this point the Lord spoke to Moses. “Fear him not,” He said, “for I have delivered him into thy hand.” So the battle went Israel’s way. Og fell, together with his sons and his people, and Israel took his land. The account is short and plain, and you can read it in Numbers 21 on BibleGateway.
Later, the land of Bashan went to the half tribe of Manasseh. The victory over Sihon and Og became a milestone in Israel’s memory. For example, Psalms 135 and 136 praise God for striking down these two kings. Joshua and Nehemiah recall them too. Their names came to stand for every enemy that God had overcome.
The Iron Bed of King Og of Bashan
Deuteronomy 3 adds a detail that has puzzled readers ever since. It says that Og alone remained of the Rephaim, the old race of giants. Then it points to his bed. “Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron,” the text says. It was still on show in Rabbah, the city of the Ammonites.
The bed measured nine cubits long and four cubits wide. A common cubit was about eighteen inches. So the bed was roughly thirteen and a half feet long and six feet wide. You can see the verse in context in Deuteronomy 3 on BibleGateway.
What was this bed? Some readers take it as proof that King Og of Bashan stood ten feet tall or more. Others suggest a different answer. The Hebrew word for “bed” can also mean a couch or a resting place for the dead. Moreover, the word for “iron” may point to black basalt, a stone common in Bashan. On that view, the famous bed was a huge stone coffin. Indeed, the region is full of ancient stone tombs called dolmens.
Either way, the writer had a clear purpose. He wanted readers to feel the size of the enemy that God had beaten. For more on how ancient writers described such figures, see our overview of Giants in Ancient Texts.
The Last of the Rephaim
The Bible uses several names for giants. There are the Anakim near Hebron. Elsewhere we meet the Emim of Moab and the Zamzummim of Ammon. And there are the Rephaim, the name linked to Og. Deuteronomy explains that different peoples used different names for the same tall race.
But the word rephaim has a second meaning. In the poetry of the Bible, it also means the shades of the dead. Isaiah uses it for the spirits in the underworld who rise to greet a fallen king. So Og stands on a line between two worlds. He is a flesh-and-blood ruler, yet his title echoes the realm of the dead.
Old Canaanite texts make this link even stronger. Tablets from the city of Ugarit, written about 1200 BC, speak of a god named Rapiu. This god is said to sit enthroned in Ashtaroth and rule in Edrei. Those are exactly the two cities of Og. In that culture the rapiuma were the spirits of dead kings. The Wikipedia article on the Rephaim gathers these clues in one place. They suggest that Bashan was known as a land of the royal dead long before Israel arrived.
King Og of Bashan and the Flood
The Bible never says how a giant survived until the time of Moses. After all, the Flood was meant to wipe out the giants of Genesis 6. The rabbis noticed this gap, and they filled it with bold stories.
One legend says that Og was too tall for the waters to cover. Another says he sat on a beam of the ark, and Noah passed him food through a hole. In return, Og swore to serve Noah’s family forever. Either way, King Og of Bashan became a living bridge between the world before the Flood and the world after it.
The rabbis also found Og in Genesis 14. There, a lone survivor escapes a battle and tells Abraham that Lot has been captured. Tradition names this man Og. Some say he hoped Abraham would die in the rescue, so that he could marry Sarah. Thus the giant who once helped Abraham became the enemy of Abraham’s children. These stories draw on the older Nephilim lore we explore in The Enoch Nephilim Connection.
The Mountain and the Ant
The most famous Og story comes from the Babylonian Talmud, in tractate Berakhot. Og saw the camp of Israel spread out below him. He measured it at three parasangs, about nine miles. Then he tore up a mountain of the same size to throw on the camp.
But God sent ants to bore through the rock. The stone sank over Og’s head and rested on his shoulders. His teeth grew out and locked it in place, so he could not shake it off. Then Moses, himself ten cubits tall, took an axe ten cubits long. He leapt ten cubits into the air and struck Og on the ankle. So the giant fell and died.
The story is playful, but it carries a serious point. No size or strength can stand against God. The rabbis also said that Moses feared Og for a different reason. They taught that Moses was not afraid of his body but of his merit. After all, Og had once brought news to Abraham, and that good deed might still protect him.
Og and the Giants of the Dead Sea Scrolls
In the caves of Qumran, scholars found pieces of an Aramaic work called the Book of Giants. It tells the story of the sons of the fallen Watchers before the Flood. Two giants named Ohyah and Hahyah have terrible dreams of coming judgment. Another giant, Mahway, flies to Enoch to ask what the dreams mean. The Wikipedia article on the Book of Giants sums up these fragments.
The surviving fragments do not name Og. Still, the Talmud offers a curious link. In tractate Niddah it says that Sihon and Og were brothers, the sons of Ahijah, the son of Shamhazai. Shamhazai is the leader of the Watchers in the Enoch books. And many scholars think Ahijah is simply the giant Ohyah of the Book of Giants. So the rabbis placed Og inside the same family tree.
These dream stories are the subject of our study on Dreams of the Nephilim. The book also names Gilgamesh as one of the giants, a link we trace in Gilgamesh in the Book of Giants.
For the wider story of the Watchers, read The Watchers and the Nephilim.
Why King Og of Bashan Still Matters
At first glance, Og is a minor figure. He fights one battle and loses. Yet his story touches some of the deepest themes in the Bible. It speaks of fear and trust, since Moses had to face a giant with nothing but a promise. It also speaks of judgment, since the last of the ancient giants falls at last.
King Og of Bashan also shows us how scripture and legend grow together. A single line about a bed became a doorway into the world before the Flood. The rabbis, the scribes of Qumran and the poets of Canaan all left their marks on his portrait. For a full list of the sources, the Wikipedia article on Og is a useful place to start.
Finally, the finds from the Judean desert remind us how rich this world of stories was. Our guide to Unlocking the Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls shows what else those caves preserved. The giant of Bashan fell long ago, but his legend has never quite stopped growing. That is why the tale of King Og of Bashan still draws readers in today.
Check out the author’s book here: The Book of Giants.
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